


Prompts from Tumblr

by lohac



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: A lot of stuff will change yall this is just gonna be a bunch of mini fics, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Rating May Change, Taako has trust issues and PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-30 05:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12102213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lohac/pseuds/lohac
Summary: Just a bunch of TAZ mini fics based on writing prompts, moved over from tumblr.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “You hide it in jokes and sarcasm, but I can see how broken you are.”

“You hide it in jokes and sarcasm, but I can see how broken you are.”

Taako laughs nervously and looks away. “I dunno what you’re talking about, big guy, these goofs are 100% home-grown and organic. I’m not covering up shit.”

“Listen. Taako. Just because everything’s okay now doesn’t mean things can’t stick. You lost… a lot. The most of all of us, except maybe Davenport.”

“And?” Taako snaps, and okay, maybe he’s a bit defensive. Maybe Magnus is hitting just a bit too close to home. So what? “I’m fine. We got it all back in the end, we saved the world, everything’s great.”

“You know it’s okay if you’re still upset, right? Or angry.” Magnus isn’t looking at Taako anymore, like he’s trying to give him space. Instead, he’s watching the five or six dogs in his care as they run around the park, playing with each other and the other visitors.

Taako snorts. “Yeah, great, thanks. That’d be super helpful if I was actually ‘upset’ or ‘angry’.” He adds the air quotes so Magnus can tell just how much he isn’t either of those things, and the man sighs.

“You don’t have to talk about it. I’m sure as hell not gonna force you. I just want you to know that you can, okay? And that it’s okay to feel… anything you may or may not be feeling, about anything that happened.”

Now it’s Taako’s turn to look away. As if he would do something as childish as talk about his feelings. He’d always been closed off, and he liked it that way. It was easier.

… Okay, not always. Those hundred years the IPRE had been running from the Hunger, they’d become an extension of his family, and he’d opened up more than he ever had before. Besides with Lup, of course.

But that century felt like forever ago. He supposed it was, in a way. In terms of time, it had only been about fifteen years, now. But eleven of those years had been spent not remembering. He’d been  _alone_ , when he never had before. Every happy memory he’d ever had, all the time spent with his sister and his best friends, had been torn away from him, leaving him with… nothing. He’d even lost the memory of his magic, having learned it all alongside Lup, and he’d had to learn it all again from scratch.

And sure, he’d managed to find everyone again, against all odds. He’d found his family without even realizing it, and built it – well, parts of it – up again. But it hadn’t been the same, and it never would be the same. Even with Lup, now, there would always be those eleven years between them. Ten years without her, and one not even realizing she was by his side. Magnus said Taako had lost the most, but he couldn’t even imagine how awful it must’ve been for Lup during that year, knowing he was right there but being unable to reach out to him, and finding him completely unrecognizing of her name when she finally did.

“Hey, uh. You okay, buddy?” Magnus’s voice breaks through Taako’s thoughts, and the elf realizes he’s shaking. Not crying, thank fuck, but still. Shaking.

“Um, yeah, of course,” Taako says, throwing on a cheesy smile. “All good in Taako town.”

Magnus doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t push it either. Instead, he lifts his arm and rests it across the back of the bench. A wordless invitation, with plausible deniability if Taako chooses to ignore it. He weighs the options. Magnus isn’t the type to go parading it around if Taako shows a sign of weakness. Honestly, Taako knows Magnus doesn’t see it as weak at all to have emotions, or to need support. But, well, old habits – or thought processes, in this case – die hard.

In the end, he sighs in resignation and scoots over, closing his eyes as Magnus wraps an arm around him. Neither of them say anything or acknowledge the sort-of hug. They just sit there while Magnus watches the dogs.

Eventually, Taako pulls away and stands up. “I should get going, Angus wanted me to look over his lesson plans for the next week.”

The words are benign, but the implication in his tone of voice is clear:  _If you tell anyone about this, you’re dead._

Magnus nods. “I’m gonna head out too, then. See if Carey wants to practice her woodworking some more. She wants to make something for Killian for their anniversary,” he says.  _Your secret is safe with me_ , is what Taako hears, and he feels a rush of gratitude. For Magnus himself, and for the fact that he  _understands_.  

“Hey,” he says, before he lets himself think too hard about it, and Magnus quirks an eyebrow. “Thanks, Mags.”

It’s the closest Taako is willing to get to admitting he cares about the guy. But maybe, he thinks, as Magnus claps him on the shoulder and turns to call the dogs back to him, it’s just close enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “We have to stick together.”

“We have to stick together.”

Both of them had said those exact words countless times before - both during their childhood and during the century on the run from the Hunger. But this time, there was desperation in Taako’s voice, an urgency that hadn’t been there before.

“Please. I don’t want to let you out of my sight, I don’t-”

Lup floated over to him and rested a spectral hand on his shoulder. “I know. Trust me, I don’t exactly want to be apart for a good, long while, either. But you need to be here with these guys, and I… well, I need to be down there. I promise, it won’t be for long. Just one last fight and then we’re done. No more running, ever again.”

Taako took a long, shaky breath, trying to compose himself. How was he supposed to just  _go_ , having been apart from Lup for so many years, having forgotten her and then thought she was gone for good and - how was he supposed to leave his sister, even for a bit, when he’d just gotten her back?

“Hey, look at me,” Lup said, and Taako raised his head. She was in lich form, so her face wasn’t exactly all that expressive, but she still somehow managed to look deadly serious. “I swear on beef chili I’m coming back, okay? I’m not leaving you alone again, not ever.”

Taako let out a sharp laugh at that. That had been an old promise from when they were children. Beef chili had been the first dish they’d learned to cook together. If one of them swore on beef chili, to them, it was an unbreakable oath. So if Lup was saying it now, she  _meant_  it. Taako still didn’t want to go, but… He looked up at the sky, where the Hunger was bearing down upon them. At this point, they didn’t have many options left.

Just one more fight, and it would be over.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, finally.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

With that, Taako took a deep breath, turned, and walked onto the Starblaster, where his friends were waiting for him.

He had a world to save.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Do you think we're bad people?"

“Do you think we’re bad people?”

Lup raises her head from where she’s lying in the grass, her eyebrows furrowing. “Why d’you ask?”

Taako shrugs, looking away. It’s one of the rare cycles where they find the Light early on, and have almost the whole year free. So he and Lup are taking a day to relax, hanging out on a hillside and watching the clouds - green against a red sky, in this plane - pass by overhead.

The problem with free time is that it gives you a lot of chance to think. And thinking isn’t always good.

“We’re, what, in the twenties now? Thirties? It’s the same every time, but we never do anything to stop it. We don’t even warn people, really. We just… run, knowing it’ll keep coming after us.”

Lup sits up then. “What do you think we should do, then? Tell the people there’s a great big monster coming to eat them and there’s nothing they can do about it? There’s nothing we  _can_  do except keep running and hope we find a way to stop it one day.”

“Yeah, but-” Taako gestures at the village in view below them. “ _Fuck_ , Lup, I barely even  _care_  anymore. They’re going to die, just like however many planes have died before them, and I just… don’t care. How does that not make me bad?”

Lup hesitates, then scoots close and wraps her arms around him. The contact grounds him somewhat, but he feels like he doesn’t deserve it.

“Y’know,” she says, like she’s choosing her words very carefully. “I think if someone’s gone through a lot of stuff, really shitty stuff like we have, and seen loads of worlds be eaten or destroyed, if they… have to kind of shut off their emotions to cope with that so they don’t go mad, then. No. I don’t think that makes them bad.”

The question had honestly been mostly rhetorical. Taako already knows he’s not a good person. His willingness to destroy the crystal in the robot plane had proved that, if nothing else. And, yeah, he’d backed down in the end, but… he wouldn’t have, if not for Lup. She’s his moral compass when it comes to things like that.

She seems to sense the track his thoughts are taking - she’s always been good at that - and leans back, resting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. “Taako, listen. So maybe you’ve done some shitty stuff, and made some mistakes. We all have. We  _learn_  from our mistakes, Taako. That’s what’s important.”

Taako doesn’t really believe her, but he doesn’t feel like arguing either, so he forces a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Heh, yeah, I guess you’re right. What would I do without you, Lulu?”

He’s half joking, but Lup looks dead serious when she answers, “I don’t know, but I’m gonna make damn sure you never have to find out.”

And so maybe Taako isn’t a good person. Maybe he’s not even  _capable_  of being a good person. But his sister is, and she’s here, and she’s not going anywhere. Not even the Hunger can separate them for long. And for Taako, that’s good enough. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! feel free to hit me up on tumblr at grandrelic, and leave a comment if you want!


End file.
